Substitution, electrophilic substrate effects

Consideration of the orientation of substitution Orientation is an important factor to be considered in recognising both changes in the effective electrophile and in the nature of the aromatic substrate. Cases of the former type, which will be met at several places... 

Frontier orbital theory predicts that electrophilic substitution of pyrroles with soft electrophiles will be frontier controlled and occur at the 2-position, whereas electrophilic substitution with hard electrophiles will be charge controlled and occur at the 3-position. These predictions may be illustrated by the substitution behaviour of 1-benzenesulfonylpyr-role. Nitration and Friedel-Crafts acylation of this substrate occurs at the 3-position, whereas the softer electrophiles generated in the Mannich reaction (R2N=CH2), in formylation under Vilsmeier conditions (R2N=CHC1) or in formylation with dichloromethyl methyl ether and aluminum chloride (MeO=CHCl) effect substitution mainly in the 2-position (81TL4899, 81TL4901). Formylation of 2-methoxycarbonyl-l-methylpyrrole with... 

Substituent effect, additivity of, 570 electrophilic aromatic substitution and, 560-563 summary of. 569 Substitution reaction, 138 Substrate (enzyme), 1041 Succinic acid, structure of, 753 Sucralose, structure of. 1006 sweetness of, 1005 Sucrose, molecular model of. 999 specific rotation of, 296 structure of, 999 sweetness of, 1005 Sugar, complex, 974 d, 980 L, 980... 

Isotope Effects. If the hydrogen ion departs before the arrival of the electrophile (SeI mechanism) or if the arrival and departure are simultaneous, there should be a substantial isotope effect (i.e., deuterated substrates should undergo substitution more slowly than nondeuterated compounds) because, in each case, the C—H bond is broken in the rate-determining step. However, in the arenium ion mechanism, the C—H bond is not broken in the rate-... 

In the discussion of electrophilic aromatic substitution (Chapter 11) equal attention was paid to the effect of substrate structure on reactivity (activation or deactivation) and on orientation. The question of orientation was important because in a typical substitution there are four or five hydrogens that could serve as leaving groups. This type of question is much less important for aromatic nucleophilic substitution, since in most cases there is only one potential leaving group in a molecule. Therefore attention is largely focused on the reactivity of one molecule compared with another and not on the comparison of the reactivity of different positions within the same molecule. 

Now let s consider the effect of the substrate on the rate of an E2 process. Recall from the previous chapter that Sn2 reactions generally do not occur with tertiary substrates, because of steric considerations. But E2 reactions are different than Sn2 reactions, and in fact, tertiary substrates often undergo E2 reactions quite rapidly. To explain why tertiary substrates will undergo E2 but not Sn2 reactions, we must recognize that the key difference between substitution and elimination is the role played by the reagent. In a substitution reaction, the reagent functions as a nucleophile and attacks an electrophilic position. In an elimination reaction, the reagent functions as a base and removes a proton, which is easily achieved even with a tertiary substrate. In fact, tertiary substrates react even more rapidly than primary substrates. 

The nitrosonium cation can serve effectively either as an oxidant or as an electrophile towards different aromatic substrates. Thus the electron-rich polynuclear arenes suffer electron transfer with NO+BF to afford stable arene cation radicals (Bandlish and Shine, 1977 Musker et al., 1978). Other activated aromatic compounds such as phenols, anilines and indoles undergo nuclear substitution with nitrosonium species that are usually generated in situ from the treatment of nitrites with acid. It is less well known, but nonetheless experimentally established (Hunziker et al., 1971 Brownstein et al., 1984), that NO+ forms intensely coloured charge-transfer complexes with a wide variety of common arenes (30). For example, benzene, toluene,... 

The acetylation over protonic zeolites of aromatic substrates with acetic anhydride was widely investigated. Essentially HFAU, HBEA, and HMFI were used as catalysts, most of the reactions being carried out in batch reactors, often in the presence of solvent. Owing to the deactivation effect of the acetyl group, acetylation is limited to monoacetylated products. As could be expected in electrophilic substitution, the reactivity of the aromatic substrates is strongly influenced by the substituents, for example, anisole > m-xylene > toluene > fluorobenzene. Moreover, with the poorly activated substrates (m-xylene, toluene, and fluoroben-zene) there is a quasi-immediate inhibition of the reaction. It is not the case with activated substrates such as anisole and more generally aromatic ethers. It is why we have chosen the acetylation of anisole and 2-methoxynaphtalene as an example. 

A reaction described as Sn2, abbreviation for substitution, nucleophilic (bimolecular), is a one-step process, and no intermediate is formed. This reaction involves the so-called backside attack of a nucleophile Y on an electrophilic center RX, such that the reaction center the carbon or other atom attacked by the nucleophile) undergoes inversion of stereochemical configuration. In the transition-state nucleophile and exiphile (leaving group) reside at the reaction center. Aside from stereochemical issues, other evidence can be used to identify Sn2 reactions. First, because both nucleophile and substrate are involved in the rate-determining step, the reaction is second order overall rate = k[RX][Y]. Moreover, one can use kinetic isotope effects to distinguish SnI and Sn2 cases (See Kinetic Isotope Effects). 

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